Former Astronaut Ordered To Pay Child Support to Former Playboy Bunny

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) _ A former astronaut has to pay $1,200 a month to an ex-Playboy bunny who slapped him with a paternity suit in 1984, an appellate court has ruled.

A lower court ordered Edgar Mitchell, who walked on the moon in 1971, to pay $14,400 a year in child support to Sheila Ann Ledbetter, a former Playboy bunny, last October.

The appellate court Wednesday upheld that decision.

Mitchell, now a Palm Beach business consultant, had challenged the court order as excessive. He also appealed the court’s order that he pay half of all the future medical expenses for the child and more than $5,000 for the costs of the delivery.

Ms. Ledbetter gave birth to a boy in August 1984. She said the boy was born with a congenital heart disease.

Mitchell, 55, and Ms. Ledbetter, 37, lived together briefly in 1983.

Mitchell is also under court order to make alimony payments to his former wife, Anita Mitchell of West Palm Beach.